1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording an image of an object on an elongated recording medium such as a microfilm.
2. Related Background Art
A rotary camera has been known as a typical example of such a recorder. It is described below.
In the rotary camera, documents to be stored in a microfilm such as notes, checks, share certificates or ordinary documents are sequentially transported one by one, image information of the objects is sequentially recorded on an elongated film, and the recorded objects are ejected from the camera. In this manner, a large number of image of the objects can be quickly recorded on the elongated film loaded in the camera.
It is used in a financial industry such as banks to record various data and documents on a microfilm to maintain and manage them and prepare for a possible accident.
An apparatus which has a plurality of photographing units to permit simultaneous photographing on a plurality of films has also been known.
Three photographing methods for the rotary camera have been known. They are a simplex photographing method in which only one-side image of an object is photographed at a relatively low factor such as 1/25, a duplex photographing method in which front and back sides of the object are simultaneously photographed at a relatively high factor such as 1/50, and a due photographing method in which one side of an object is photographed on a lower half area of a film in which a front side of the object is to be photographed in the duplex photographing method, then the film is reversed, and the one side of the object is further photographed in the remaining half area of the film in which a back side of the object is to be photographed in the duplex photographing method.
In the prior art apparatus which has a plurality of photographing units, the photographing is made on two films simultaneously, the films are developed, and only one of them is used while the other is retained as a spare or back-up in case the film is lost. This increases the photographing cost.
Recently, a digital imaging apparatus which digitizes an image to record it on a magneto-optic disk or a tape has been put into practice. In the digital imaging apparatus, the image can be recorded on a medium which is reusable by erasing the back-up. Thus, the increase of the cost in the rotary camera due to the back-up film raises a problem.
Further, depending on an object of use such as record keeping of important data or frequent data retrieval, a dupe film which is a copy of an original film is needed in addition to the original film for the purpose of safety of record keeping.
When a dupe film which is a copy of the original film is to be prepared, a dupe apparatus has been used in the past. Further, instead of using the dupe apparatus, a dual film rotary camera in which two long films are loaded in the camera and images of objects are simultaneously photographed on the two films may be used.
However, in the prior art dual film photographing apparatus, the dual film photographing may not be necessary depending on a user, a type of object (data) to be photographed or an object of use of the microfilm. For example, where the need for maintenance is not so high or the retrieval is not required, one original film may be sufficient while taking the economy of the film into account.
In such a case, only one film is used in the dual film photographing apparatus. This is waste of space and the dual film photographing apparatus is not effectively utilized.